Alexander Pope in his “Essay on Criticism” presents a timeless view of critics and artists alike; a standpoint that needs to be more abundant in today’s day and age to save the entertainment and arts industries from declining any more than they already have. Pope comments on the downhill trek of writer’s, and he equates this abatement to each new generation’s tendency to ignore their father’s knowledge, displaying naiveté in thinking they are above their father’s lessons and teachings: “We think our fathers fools, so wise we grow;/ Our wiser sons, no doubt, will think us so” (438-439). This downward spiral in the quality of the arts has continued, and if Pope wrote this essay during his time, he would be rolling over in his grave if was ever brought back to life in the 21st century to observe the extreme degeneration in our music, our literature, and our art.
The popular music of today lacks depth; the one requirement Pope asked of the writers and musicians of his time. Pop music has revolutionized music in this country and around the world, in the most negative connotation of the word. The works of famous artist today such as Ke$ha who is currently on her “Get $leazy Tour” would horrify Pope, just as her musical ‘work’ disgusts and disappoints the few who hold Pope’s view that music should not be edited and fabricated vocals placed over unoriginal, overproduced studio beats about partying and…well, partying, with drunkenness and sleaziness thrown into the mix to make up the majority of pop music that the teens and young people of this generation flock to. The fact that one of the most famous musicians of today uses the money sign symbol to replace the ‘s’ in her name shows the slow but sure degeneration of proper grammar in this day and age, which would be another point of contention if Pope were to hear the music, read the book, or see the art of today. The dawn of the computer age came with many changes, but the worst side effect has to be the replacement of proper grammar with this computer talk; a problem that is plaguing many teenagers and children that are exposed to computer slang, teaching them these bad habits, more than they see the written word of books. This problem will only continue to increase as technology continues to grow and our world becomes a world of computers instead of books. Ke$ha may only be a product of her generation, a time where computers and technology rule the world, and the importance of the written word diminishes every day, however it is hard not to fault her for perpetuating this decline of intelligence in our generation. What has happened to cause this stark change from even the music created 30 years ago in comparison to today’s music? Can computers and technology shoulder all of the blame?
Everything declines, for nothing can retain perfection and beauty for all of eternity, because it becomes hard to remain original and groundbreaking while still retaining the depth and beauty of music when people have been making music for almost as long as we have been speaking. Any new idea is bound to have been derived from some other musician’s earlier idea in the past. Rock has declined since its outset: it is almost painful to compare the famous rock bands of today such as Nickelback to the rock bands of earlier decades such as the Doors. Nickelback’s songs all use the same five chords, rearranged for the semblance or originality, but for those that do not become glassy eyed and awed just by the production of a new song from one of these famous bands, their true lack of talent is blatantly obvious. The popular bands and artists (‘artists’ being a term used very loosely) of today do not hold a candle to the music of 10, 20, 30, 40 years ago, and beyond. Their sole purpose is to “dazzle” with their beats and pointless rhymes, but their music does little to “move” its listeners, unless you count brainwashing little girls into becoming the brainless women exemplified in these songs, and teaching young boys to be violent and angry, to be considered men.
With every generation comes this ignorance, where many ignore the works of the past and look only forward. However, this is a foolish approach when all that they have to offer is derived from these earlier works; these writers, musicians and entertainers display their blindness in their “sure[ty] to hate most the men from whom they learned” (107). These artists owe the majority of their ideas and musical accomplishments to their for bearers, but instead of recognizing all that they could learn from them, they deny their existence, like a petulant child that runs away from home as if they could survive the world without their parents. One cannot compliment the complexion or design of a flower without first yielding recognition to the soil or water that’s responsible for its existence and this holds true with music.
The music industry is not alone in this decline; the draining of intelligence and innovation has also taken its toll on the literature of today. There have been countless imitators of the great classics of centuries past, but the writer’s of today seem to be lacking in something that the writer’s of old had an abundance of. When books by Jodi Picoult and Nora Roberts line the shelves of the best seller’s section in book stores, it makes scholars wonder why these lowly examples of literature are accepted as great when there used to be writers such as Shakespeare and Milton who wrote epic tales that no author has come close to emulating in recent times.
Katy Perry epitomizes the degeneration of music according to Pope’s ideal that “music resembles poetry, in each/ Are nameless graces which no methods teach,/ And which a master hand alone can reach” (143-145). The first four and last four lines of Perry’s song “Peacock” are the repeated mantra: “I wanna see your peacock, cock, cock, your peacock, cock;” poetry at its finest. From this line it is questionable whether Katy Perry has ever even heard of Homer, making it highly doubtful that she will ever follow Pope’s advice of “read[ing] [Homer] by day, and meditate[ing] by night” (125). With people such as Katy Perry and Ke$ha leading the music industry of today, it is clear that our music industry has stooped to a new low, and if more poets and writer’s do not materialize and bring the level of beauty in music back up to the point that Pope desires it to be, then it will continue to decline. This condition will have many consequences in the future if something is not done to halt it, but with every passing year it seems less and less likely that there will be Jim Morrison’s or John Lennon’s of our time; they seem to be a lost race. When Jim Morrison was able to ad lib lines such as “Don’t let me die in an automobile, I want to lie in an open field,” while on stage, tripping on acid, and Katy Perry is only capable of these pathetic excuses lines of “poetry,” with an army of producers and song writer’s assisting her, a shift must have taken place somewhere between Jim Morrison’s time, and our time. If this shift is not rectified, then humans might as well stop making music, because the music will only continue to droop lower than the popular music of today, making Pope’s death before this extreme decline a blessing.
Pope derisively attacks the critics and writers of his time, however, if he were present today, would Pope be just another of these mediocre writers? People with Pope’s ability are probably still born today, but because today’s society does not enforce higher learning, or value it like it used to be valued, these truly gifted writer’s are lost in the tumult of horrible writing. “Though wit and art conspire to move your mind; / But dullness with obscenity must prove/ As shameful sure as impotence in love/ In the fat age of pleasure, wealth, and ease,/ Sprung the rank weed, and thrived with large increase” (531-535). Pope comments on his age of being one of “pleasure, wealth, and ease,” and if the decline started during his time and has continued until today, the damage may be beyond repair. Will our contemporary arts and entertainment industry continue their downward spiral, or will another Pope come along and reverse the decline? Only time will tell.
Not only did that make me wholeheartedly decide to NEVER frequent a Peter Bjorn and John concert, it made me feel a little guilty inside for jamming to Young Folks by them so hard. That poor baby. What horrible marketing.
